Alice Conroy — lone character in Keith Huff's "The Detective's Wife," which opened over the weekend at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, under Jim Tasse's direction — suggests that mysteries' often formulaic solutions help distract us from those larger existential quandaries we can't even face, let alone solve. | Sept. 23, 2013»Read Full Article

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And good evening, others," St. Vincent said coolly with a Cheshire grin, welcoming a sold-out crowd to her Turner Hall Ballroom show Friday night.

Born Annie Clark, St. Vincent is an "other," in every imaginable sense of the world. From the start of her solo career in 2007, she's sounded like no other artist, dead or alive: She can be funky, haunting, playful, alluring — but never, ever predictable. On Friday, her live show, and consequentially her artistry, reached a whole other level. | April 5, 2014»Read Full Article

Milwaukee musician John Sieger doesn't want you to have to choose between going to his record release show at Shank Hall Saturday or watching the Badgers take on the University of Kentucky for the NCAA Final Four game Saturday night.

So Sieger's show has been moved to 6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 in advance at the box office (1434 N. Farwell Ave.), by calling (866) 468-3401 and visiting ticketweb.com. Admission is $12 at the door. All previously purchased tickets will be honored. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Article

Three Lions Pub, the British pub at 4515 N. Oakland Ave. in Shorewood, plans to expand into what now is Big Bay Brewing Co.'s tasting room if it wins the Shorewood Village Board's go-ahead on Monday. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Blog Post(3)

The restaurant, formerly Mitchell’s Cafe and Miller Brewhouse, now spotlights Milwaukee products such as Usinger’s sausages and has added freshly carved meats for sandwiches (starting at $12.95), with turkey breast, beef, corned beef and pastrami among the options. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Blog Post(1)

Film star Christopher Reeve is shown playing the superhero in the Warner Brothers film "Superman III."

"The History of Invulnerability," which the Milwaukee Repertory Theater begins performing April 8, considers both the greatest American comic-book hero ever, Superman, and one of the guys who created him, writer Jerry Siegel. Set in Siegel's mind on the last day of his life, David Bar Katz's play delves into Superman's roots in Siegel's experience and imagination as a Jewish American.

A 20th-century American writer's biography often follows a familiar pattern: years of learning and struggle, followed by one or more breakthroughs, then success and honors, with various speed bumps of alcoholism, drug addiction or mental illness.

Adam Begley's "Updike" follows little of that template. A golden child, John Updike began, to borrow Mike McCarthy's phrase, stacking success upon success at an early age. The small-town Pennsylvania lad earned a full-ride scholarship to Harvard. He was first published in The New Yorker weeks after graduation and became a staff writer there at age 23. He earned more money than he could spend, and won most awards short of the Nobel Prize. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Article

The tour was announced Friday. The show, being billed as an "arena rock spectacular," will star punk legend John Lydon (the artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten) as King Herod, Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child as Mary Magdalene, Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas and JC Chasez of 'N Sync as Pilate. Ben Forster, the winner of the U.K.'s prime-time contest show "Superstar," will play the title character. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Article(2)

On a sultry September night during San Francisco's 1876 heat wave, the colorful and cross-dressing Jenny Bonnet — a 27-year-old French immigrant who rode about town on a new-fangled bicycle, always packed heat and made her living catching frogs for local restaurants — was shot dead in bed, in a room she was sharing with 24-year-old prostitute Blanche Beunon.

That's how Emma Donoghue begins "Frog Music," her first novel since the widely acclaimed "Room" (2010). A splice between historical fiction and a crime novel that unfolds through third-person narration shading toward Blanche's point of view, "Frog Music" toggles between events culminating in Jenny's murder and ensuing efforts to puzzle out what happened. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Article

Tom is young, smart and handsome. A rising star in the city's largest law firm, he is happily married and lives in a lovely, recently purchased home, with plenty of extra room for the doting mother who singlehandedly raised him.

I've had a passing knowledge of the artworks owned by the Journal Sentinel from simply spotting them in hallways and meeting rooms over the years. But while digging into our archives in preparation for some visitors, I discovered a half-forgotten history about how the company I work for has supported Wisconsin artists, what the local press for years used to call "Badger artists."

When the building opened in 1924, the Milwaukee Journal opened an art gallery on the second floor with big leather couches and fringed lamps. It was described in news clippings from the 1920s through the '80s as the only art gallery run by a newspaper in America or the world. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Article(3)

After months of working on the space, Amanda Dixon will open her Lazy Susan restaurant at 2376 S. Howell Ave. in Bay View on Tuesday.

Dixon, who has led kitchens at centro café in Riverwest and at the National on the south side, characterizes her restaurant as casual fine dining. The format is shareable plates, with the menu changing frequently. | April 4, 2014»Read Full Blog Post(1)

Dig out your Magic: The Gathering cards for the StarCityGames.com Open Series, billed as the world's largest independent Magic tournament series. The competition comes to the Wisconsin Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave., Saturday and Sunday, starting each day at 10 a.m. The entry fee is $40, with registration starting both days at 8 a.m.